Sometimes Updates Work!

The other day, I went to check for something on the Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Kentucky website to see if their genealogy database was still messed up. They updated it a year or so ago, and most of my ancestors/relatives had disappeared.

Well they are back! I had a few issues navigating but went in search of my 4th great grandfather whose remains were removed from the family burial ground and re-interred in 1912. This would be Colonel Abraham Bowman born in Virginia in 1749 and died in Kentucky in 1837. My previous attempts to find him in the update were fruitless. But now he's back and with some real improvements to the database.

First, I searched Bowman which brought up all (?) the Bowmans in the cemetery. Not all of them are connected to me, but when I clicked on the map I found this wonderful map that shows where they are buried. I went back to make sure that I didn't have anyone highlighted and clicked on all the numbers. The number 32 is my main branch of Bowmans. I have at least two generations of my direct line buried here, Col. Abraham Bowman and Mary Hite Bowman and William Bowman and Nancy Todd Parker Bowman. Remember, I said 32? It's bottom center. A couple of the other groups are also mine. 

When I clicked on the number 32, it popped up a cluster screen which listed the 32 burials on Section H, Lots 50 and 51. I've screen captured the first page of it. This is amazing. I've been working in this cemetery for years and this is the easiest it has been. Kudos to Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky.  Their website is here.

Copyright 2010-2021, ACK for Gene Notes

Sparking My Curiosity

I just happened to check Ancestry for Kentucky wills. I found one for one of my collateral relatives, William Reed Bowman, a second cousin three times removed, who died in 1938. His will was dated 1936, and he made sure that a tenant farmer of his would receive the home the tenant was living in, unless said tenant farmer predeceased him. He names him as William Allen Bryant, a negro. William R. Bowman left no heirs other than his wife. 

The name William Bryant is a fairly common one in the Lexington, Kentucky area whether one was black or white. My great-great-great-great grandmother, Sarah Henry, was married to a David Bryan(t) and was a grandmother to a William Bryan(t). Depending on the record, you would see the name Bryan or Bryant. 

I have found a William A. Bryan in that area on the 1930 census and in the World War I and II draft registrations, and Kentucky death index. Do I have the correct person? I don't know, but I've enjoyed the search.

Copyright 2010-2021, ACK for Gene Notes

Four Years Into MacBook Pro

Heaven only knows why I waited so long to buy a MacBook. Oh wait, I waited because my genealogy program had to run on Mac without running parallels or some other way of running it. I bought it when I did because RootsMagic made a version (6) that would run on crossover. Now I am into version 7 and testing version 8 which is a native Mac version. 

There are however two program I really miss. Transcript, which I fell in love with it instantly, and which I reviewed in 2012 and GenSmarts which I started using in 2011. Unfortunately neither are Mac compatible, and GenSmarts told me that it probably never would produce a Mac Version. Sigh. 

In RootsMagic 7 I can use the add media screen to transcribe, that is not possible in RM8, so far, which means I'll be transcribing in RM7 for the time being unless I find a decent app. 

I used windows computers for years. I hated them. My Mac has been wonderfully trouble free. Ahhh.

Copyright 2010-2021, ACK for Gene Notes